Hello everybody. I've been hanging around these forums for years but this is my first post. I'm considering doing a year long MPhil (I'm aware that it's 2 years at some uni's). Although I feel that I do not want to commit 3-4 years to a PhD just yet, I'm keen on doing some research (cancer research related) in the coming academic year before maybe going onto med school or paid work in industry if med school doesn't work out.

I know that with a PhD you can apply for projects listed on websites like this one for example. But what would you advise I do if I want to do an MPhil. Can I contact the same people and just say I'm interested in doing a year long project in the first instance?

In all honesty, although I enjoy the research process (despite the frustrations!) I find the prospect of coming up with my own topic and doing the whole proposal thing quite daunting, so I would probably prefer a project that has been advertised. Also how do people find the idea in general seeing as I already have a BSc BMS (2.1) and a taught MSc in pharmacology (Merit)?

Thanks

Maybe you can directly apply for Research Assistant jobs in either academic or industry, they usually only require bsc/msc level. that way you get to do research and not have to think of proposals and stuff. i dont think mphils are all that common to be honest, they are usually seen as stepping stones to do a phd.

as far as i am aware, lara is right - deliberately setting out to do just an mphil is almost unheard of, and generally people only get an mphil when they leave a phd early for whatever reason. i would think that it is pretty unlikely that any supervisor would take you on for just a year, and it would be pretty impossible to get a qualification out of it simply because an mphil is not really offered by itself, only ever as part of a phd.
if you want to continue with research, then either do another masters (an MRes might suit you as they are research-heavy) or get a temporary Research Assistant post. personally, i would go down the RA route rather than just getting more qualifications for the sake of it. this can make you look indecisive and not commited enough to one particular subject area.

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i agree with smoobles, doing a RA would be much more beneficial, you will get hands on experience for doing research and learning new experimental techniques. and sometimes you get offered to do a phd if your work/project is going well. alot of my friends started out doing a RA job and then got offered to take it further as a phd, i know personally 3 of my friends that this occurred, but they were in academic labs.

so like Smoobles has suggested, check out some RA jobs , they are usually for a year or so, so that way you aren't tied down. and if you're interested in cancer research, you can look for cancer research based projects (up)
best of luck!

Thanks guys for the replies. I see the point of view that it would be more beneficial for me to get a RA post rather than spend even more money on another qualification (because I think there is little or no funding available). Although these days it'll probably be more competitive with there being a lack of jobs and all. I'm currently unemployed (just doing some volunteer work) and I'm worried that the larger the gap between when I finished my MSc (september 08) the less desirable I'll be to employers. Anyway, I've seen a few posts that I shall pursue.

I suppose it'll also give me an insight into the world of academia if I were to complete my PhD one day. I've heard many things about it but its better to experience it yourself. Sooo we shall see ...

you're welcome, glad we could help :-) i understand about lack of jobs, but i suppose all you can do is keep applying and going for interviews. what type of volunteer work do you do ? maybe you can use that as an example of the type of skils you can bring to a RA job, even if its not research or science related, work is still work

dont worry about the gap, just go for it, and start applying, whenever you apply for a particular research project, read some articles around it to get a rough idea of the type of background information, that way you can weave it in the interview. and besides you only just graduated last year in sept, hardly a big gap!

good luck and keep us posted on how job hunting is going :-)

most bosses when it comes to RA jobs just want to see someone that has the enthusiasm to learn and work hard. if you're finding it difficult to get RA jobs, you can if you want, as a temp basis apply for lab technician jobs, that might get your foot in the door and onto bigger things, pay is less though and lower down in the ladder, but its a fall back plan. best of luck
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Hi, I know this is an old thread but I thought I may as well just carry on here and update a little.

In the last sixty-odd days I’ve had no luck with research assistant jobs and it’s killing me.

I’ve always been told my previous project tutors (I’ve had two), post –docs and friends that I’d make a good researcher or academic, which is flattering. If I was given a project and somebody told me to go and find out an answer to a particular question, use certain techniques and write a report (like my BSc and MSc projects), I’d get stuck in, start going down avenues that I find interesting and hopefully come out with a very satisfactory report.

However, I feel as if I’m still weak as an independent researcher. By this I mean trying to come up with a research proposal, with methodology and all. Is (or was) this feeling familiar to anybody?

The reason I’m going on about this is that (as you can see by my above posts) I had this idea of doing a 1 year MPhil because I wasn’t prepared to commit completely to a PhD. Although now I’ve found out that the medicine application has been unsuccessful and I’m still very much interested in research.

And my Dad, who is a PhD in a humanities subject, has been urging me to apply for an MPhil (He’d even help with the fees). But I really don’t know where to start with coming up with a project. I could obviously aim for an advertised and funded PhD starting 2010, though that would leave me with the question of what I do until then, especially if a job doesn’t come along (I know I have to stay positive but it may happen). I was also talking to someone who said that I may find it difficult amongst other ‘competitors’ if I’ve been out of the scientific/academic loop for a while.

I know I’m rambling a bit but I’m just frustrated. I feel as if I’m slowly wasting my life away. I’m hitting the big 2-3 in a few weeks. I always thought by that age I’d be sorted.

PS: Sorry if this is hard to read. Depending on what website you're reading this on, the paragraphs may not show for some reason

Hey,
You could apply for a fully funded/non funded PhD if you find one that interests you at a suitable institution. At the end of your first year, you normally have to submit a continuation report in order to progress into the second year of the PhD. At this point, either you or your supervisor can request that you submit a thesis for mphil rather than continue on to the second year. However, you might find that once you get into it, you want to carry on anyway and finish to obtain a PhD, but at least this way you wouldn't need to write up a proposal etc. I don't know of anywhere that offers funded/non-funded-mphil projects that have already been decided by a supervisor.